The European Green Deal was officially revealed at COP25 on 11th December, explaining the climate suite of measures for Europe to be climate neutral by 2050. It defines an industrial strategy focus, prioritising both large businesses and SMEs to incentivise them to take up greener operational measures across primary, secondary and tertiary industries. A 50-55% emission reduction target for 2030 for all EU countries is one of the headline targets, this is a significant reduction. To do this, the UK government will be implementing more and more schemes such as the UK’s domestic Green Deal policy initiative that Gemserv manages, to reduce energy inefficiency in households across the country.
The UK housing market is described as among the ‘leakiest’ in Europe where the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) posits that heating and hot water make up 25% of UK total energy use and 15% of greenhouse gas emissions. A near perfect decarbonisation in how we heat our homes must be met if we are to reach the UK’s legally binding target of 80% reduced emissions on 1990 levels.
Designed as a flagship energy-saving scheme, the Green Deal allows homeowners to make energy efficiency home improvements with no upfront cost, to be paid back over time through the savings (made from the installation) on their energy bills. The ‘Golden Rule’ of the scheme is that repayment on the loan for the home improvement should not exceed the energy saving.
In 2017, the Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC) was bought by private investors and Gemserv has performed the role of administrator for the Green Deal Oversight and Registration Body (GD ORB) including management of the Panel Secretary function. Gemserv manages the Master Registration Agreement (MRA) and ECOES database and so also has responsibility for Green Deal Central Charges Database development.
We work with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to facilitate the roll out of energy efficient measures to deploy zero carbon heating technology. This supports the UK’s net zero emissions ambition of 2050.
We have focused on enabling conversation with households, in particular landlords and tenants surrounding the relief of burden for initial capital outlay, incentivising landlords to fit measures required to meet energy efficiency standards. The number of private rentals has more than doubled from 1996-2016 and so the need to target these properties is key to make a real difference in reducing energy ‘leakage’.
The UK government aims to have low-carbon heating in every home by 2050. Right now, fewer than 500,000 homes have low-carbon systems, and so our work on Green Deal is imperative to meeting net zero targets for the UK.